Understanding Horse Behavior: Your Guide to Horse Health Care and Management
By Sue McDonnell, PhD

It is more often than not taken for granted that any reasonable horse or pony will abide all sorts of manipulations and engage in a variety of activities on our behalf. We are surprised and frustrated when they don't. What we ask horses to do is often quite incompatible with their natural instincts. From the behaviorist's point of view, the routine work and performance feats of domestic horses are truly remarkable. Equestrians have long been fascinated by those people who seem to possess extraordinary ability to interact effectively with difficult horses, to eke out superior performances from seemingly ordinary animals. Currently, interest in equine behavior and demand for the services of these specialists are at all-time highs. Training workshops and clinics have become almost as common as horse shows.